Gundam Seed: The Raven
by Nagato21
Summary: Alex Klein a young and mysterious mercenary is hired by the Earth Alliance to observe the G-Units development, but for someone who isn't bound by laws, causes or nations where does his true loyalty lies? What does the Raven seek? AU, OC/pairing unknown, Kira and lots of actions.
1. Phase 1: Raven meet Gundam

**Hey guys it's me again Nagato21. So after several months of writer's bloc, tedious job, a bad economy and being single (yes I know it's sad) I finally decided to get back in the game. I will try to update as regularly as possible but I make no promise because I am very busy in the real world.**

**I also would like to apologize to my fellow readers for being absent for so long but like I said before, the real world is a busy place. You should also know that Stargate Unbound my other fic is not dead, I will update it soon but not now. For now I am focusing on this new Gundam story but it will not be a regular occurance.**

**Just a quick note: In this story Kira is not the main focus and will be a secondary character. The main character is Alex Klein and his impact in the Cosmic Era. So if you don't like it please don't read it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed and any related Gundam franchise.**

**Now have fun and don't forget to review**

**Orb Colony of Heliopolis, Lagrange 3 Sector**

**January 12****th**** CE 71**

At a seemingly abandoned warehouse in the factory district of the neutral colony, a group of men dress in dark camo uniform, combat vest; balaclava on their heads and armed with pistols and submachine guns were busy working.

"Access to G-Weapon is complete, boss" says one man seating in front of a computer, another man behind him with blond hair and glasses nods. He extracts from his pocket a piece of paper and hands it to the subordinate.

"Get access to the G-Weapon data and begin the upload to these coordinates" he says

"You think they will bite?" asks another masked man, making the other smile evilly

"Normally I would say no but Azrael gave me some pretty good insurance" he says with a sinister chuckle "I didn't get the details but there seems to be a mole within their midst"

"How the hell did they get one inside the….?"

"Enough" the leader cuts him off "Its above our pay grade, what's important is the preservation of our blue and pure world." the subordinate nods and steps away.

"Upload complete" says the computer expert

"How do you define blue and pure when spilling the blood of countless innocent?" asks another approaching subordinate, his tone was frosty, causing the leader's instinct to draw his weapon.

Before he can asks for more clarification, the subordinate punches him in the guts, causing him to fall on his knees, then a swift karate chop on his neck renders him unconscious as he falls on the floor.

The other men look at the scene shocked and confused

"What the hell…?"asks the one seating next to the computer, but his words are cut by a bullet crashing in between his eyes.

The rest of the men raise their weapons and press the triggers only for them to click empty

"Rule number 8 of Covert Operation" the assailant speaks as he removes his mask, revealing a young tan skin face, with blue eyes and short cut red hair "Never let the rookie distribute the ammo before an OP". The red hair grins evilly and raises an SMG with laser targeting sights on each hand, aiming at the shocked crow and then presses the trigger.

From outside brief flashes of light reflects on the windows of the warehouse followed by muffled sounds and screams.

The blond hair man wakes up with a headache, as he tries to raise his hand to massage his head he suddenly realizes that he can't move, his body solidly tied into a chair by thick and sturdy ropes. Now fully awake he takes stock of his surrounding only for his eyes widen in shock upon seeing the fallen bodies of his men littering the ground floor around him.

"Good morning" a voice says he turns in its direction; seated on top of a table is a young man with tan skin, blue eyes, military length cut red hairs, he has a slight scar under his left cheek. On his right hand is a wicked curved knife.

"Who the fuck, are you?" the blonde man asks acidly, his answer comes swiftly in the form of the knife being thrown and plunging on his shoulder, causing him to scream in pain.

"I'll be the one asking the question if you don't mind" the young man says with a slight smile, causing the blonde man to feel a slight chill creeping on his spine. He screams once more as the boy removes the knife slowly and not before twisting it several times inside his flesh.

"You don't answer or if I don't like what you are telling me…." he stabs his left leg causing further pain to the prisoner putting his point across.

"Now start explaining to me why Blue Cosmos is tipping ZAFT about the G-Weapon Project?"

…..

**A few hours later**

Morning or what people considered morning in Heliopolis artificial environment had come and the streets and roads where once again becoming busy.

Inside an apartment at the residential district, Alex Klein sighed as he finished reading the last bit of data he had acquired from that Blue Cosmos warehouse a few hours ago.

'_A fire erupted early this morning inside an abandoned warehouse at the industrial district' _a female newscaster spoke on the TV which he had turned on to keep appraise of actualities. _'Heliopolis Police Department has yet to make a statement regarding if the act was criminal or an accident. On other news ZAFT forces continue their advances toward Kaohsiung…..'_

Alex turned off the TV as he noticed on his comm. terminal was ringing, he got up from his sofa and approached the screen turning it on.

The face of a man with Asian features in his forties wearing the traditional blue and white uniform of the Orb Navy appeared on the screen.

"Admiral Parks" Alex greeted with a soft smile "Long time no see". The Orb Admiral smiled and nodded "Indeed Alex, how are you doing?"

The red head sighed "When you told me to pass my vacations here at Heliopolis you forgot to mention how boring this colony was."

Parks chuckled at the boy's comment before raising an eyebrow "What about the opportunity of hacking through Morganroete mainframes or the occasional spying of CIA cells spread across the colony?"

Alex snorted humorously "CIA is not what it used to be Admiral, unless they decided to outsource by employing Blue Cosmos"

Parks eyes narrowed, his face taking a serious expression "So it is true, Blue Cosmos works that closely with the Atlantic Federation."

Alex nodded "I confirmed it this morning when I infiltrated their hideout. But that's not the worst of it. They not only got access to the G-Weapons data but they have sent it to ZAFT."

A flash of surprise and anger coursed across the Orb Admiral's face "They want to set us up" It wasn't a question. Since the war began, the Earth Alliance or to be more precise the Atlantic Federation has been pressuring Orb to join them in their war against the PLANTS, understandable since Orb despite being a small in comparison to the other super states was the most technologically advance nation after the Coordinator Nation, its military despite not having mobile suits was dangerous enough to even hurt ZAFT, add the Morganroete Technological Firm which is the Orb's top weapon manufacturer, having Orb at their side would tip the scale of the conflict.

"It wasn't enough that the Seiran and Shahaku plotted to have Morganroete build mobile suits for them, but now they want to involve us directly." Parks says as he slams his fist on his desk.

"Aside from the upcoming political fallout we have bigger things to worry for now" Alex says "No doubt ZAFT will react swiftly to prevent the prototypes from reaching Alliance HQ and knowing Patrick Zala, he is bound to do something stupid like ordering the destruction of Heliopolis."

Parks nodded agreeing with the young man assessment "I will inform Lord Uzumi and dispatch reinforcements as soon as possible. For now I want you Alex to head back to Morganroete and extract all the data related to the G-Project including the Archangel and then forward it back to Copernicus."

"I'll get on it tomorrow"

"One more thing" Parks add "Is the Arbalest ready for deployment?"

"It is operational except for the OS but that isn't a problem for me" Alex explains with a slight smirk "By the way Admiral how is the Zodiac Project coming along?"

The Orb Admiral smiled "The test trials for the Aries and Tragos were very successful. They may not have the same technological advances as the Astray series but in terms of combat performance and speed they are superior to the GINNs and DINNs."

Alex chuckled "It also help that they are cheaper to produce and they don't require a complex OS to pilot them."

"Indeed, those were some of the reasons why we chose the Zodiac Series over the Astray. It is hard for conventional pilots to switch to 3D maneuvers, even mobile armor pilots, but the Aries per example is more of a jet fighter than a mobile suit and it will ease the learning curve when we begin fielding more powerful mobile suits." Explains the Admiral, to which Alex nodded in agreement. While he wasn't totally against the Astray project, the mobile suit was too technologically advance even for Orb's powerful economy to have it mass produce. With the war raging on between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, it was only a matter of time until the small nation becomes a target for both sides despites neutrality. Thus for the short term Orb needed a cheap but strong mobile suit force while Astray would be relegated as a Command unit or Special Operations until. Of course that decision had been met by hostility from the Shahaku who had spearheaded the Astray Project in the hopes of rising above the Atha family. While the Shahaku had a lot of influence within Orb's military, these same military people were not pleased that the noble family endangered their nation by wanting to play the EA and ZAFT. This was why Alex Klein had been sent to Heliopolis, to keep an eye on the G-Weapon Project, make sure the EA would respect their end of the deal by forwarding data of the prototypes and finally ensure that no third party would attempt to steal secrets from Morganroete.

"We have also begun testing the Cancer and Pisces and so far everything is going well but for now we will be focusing on producing the Aries and Tragos. The Joint Chiefs want to replace half of our aerial and ground assets with those two models by the middle of this year." Parks added causing Alex to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"Does that mean that Lord Uzumi gave his approval?" he asks, the Admiral nodded with a wicked grin "Lord Uzumi may be a pacifist but he isn't an idiot and don't forget that he used to be a veteran ace pilot, so he knows the requirements needed to protect our nation."

Alex nodded, remembering what he had read about the ruler of Orb. It wasn't widely known but Uzumi Nara Atha was once a fearsome ace fighter pilot during the 2nd Circum Pacific Conflict, a series of violent skirmishes which pitted Orb allied with the Oceanic Union and the Atlantic Federation against the East Asian Republics and Eurasian Federation some thirty years ago. While the conflict had been brief it was devastating but Orb came out as a nation to be feared and Uzumi one of the many war heroes to survive what was known as the greatest aerial-naval war in history.

"When you put it that way I guess it makes sense" chuckles Alex before adopting a serious expression "In the event that ZAFT attacks the colony, what are my orders?"

"Do whatever you can to prevent them from damaging the colony. Hopefully ZAFT will attack the Archangel once it is outside of our airspace, if that happens well it's not our problem anymore." Parks says with a slight sneer, evidence that he held both factions in contempt. He was a Coordinator as well but he despised the Alliance for their siding with Blue Cosmos and hypocritical stance; ZAFT he despised them even more than the Alliance because of their arrogance thinking they are superior to other humans. In his opinion both sides deserved to be annihilated but the result would be countless innocent lives lost in the process.

"Whatever happens Alex, I need you to survive and come back home in one piece got it?" Parks asks him "Otherwise Cynthia will tear me a new one if she learns that something bad happened to you."

Alex snorted at the mention of his ex-girlfriend, Cynthia Silverberg CEO of Morganroete and daughter of Robert Silverberg, the governor of Copernicus and President of Lunar Trade Guild.

"Well maybe if she kept a better eye on her companies activities I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place." the red hair replied sarcastically causing Parks to shake his head. He was well aware of the dissention between Alex and Cynthia. Born in an elitist Coordinator family, Cynthia while not racist saw Naturals as obsolete and narrow minded, but Alex was the exception to the norm. While he is a 100% Natural, he is has often demonstrated feats that only Coordinators were suppose to accomplish. Being such an oddity he became the target of Cynthia's obsession to pierce his secret, often landing him into complicated mess. If it wasn't enough Blue Cosmos was also after his hide, believing he was a Coordinator in disguise. At one point Alex entertained the thought of having a durable relationship with Cynthia but their ideological views were a major barrier despite having grown feelings for each other.

"Anyways, good luck Alex and keep safe" Parks says ending the discussion and signing off

Alex turned off his terminal and went to the kitchen, he opened the fridge and took out a can of beer, and then he went back to sit on his sofa, opening his drink and sipping it.

"It seems no matter what I do, war is always coming back toward me" he muses aloud with a deep sigh.

Alex couldn't help but be worried about the future. If the Alliance and Blue Cosmos were this eager to tip ZAFT about their secret mobile suit project it meant that something big was happening behind the scenes. It also meant that the G-Weapons at present were worthless in the eyes of the Alliance.

"_Which means there is a separate development center"_ Alex thought _"Probably deep inside the Atlantic Federation territory, but I bet they used the work here in Heliopolis to spearhead their own project. However I have a hard time picturing Admiral Halberton using such underhanded method. He is likely unaware of it which means someone the Atlantic Federation has bigger plans than simply developing mobile suits."_

Since the war began, the Eurasian Federation had shouldered the brunt of conflict due to its numerical superiority and having control large deposits of resources in central Asia and Siberia. Not eager to see the Atlantic Federation leading the war, the East Asia Republics had also thrown its support to the Eurasian, relegating the Atlantic side to the position of number two. Surprisingly the Atlantic Federation had made no noise about being sidelined, instead opting for providing supplies and technology to its "allies". Alex like many others had been puzzled by the passive nature of the Atlantic Federation but now as to why.

"_They are weakening the Eurasian and East Asian forces but the question is why?"_ he thought _"So far America has yet to be touch by the conflict preserving their industrial base which has grown even bigger since the war began. The Eurasian despite suffering massive casualties are still a force to be reckoned. If the Atlantic Federation unveils the G-Weapons they will be in a position of leadership because they are the only one with the industry capable of supplying mobile suits so why the whole farce, why trying to setup Orb to join them?"_

So many questions and yet little answers.

Not wanting to delve further into countless theories Alex finished his beer and went to take a shower. He had barely slept but it was alright, he was used to such things. For now he needed to prepare for the upcoming fallout.

…..

**Three days later**

Alex dress in black cargo pants, yellow t-shirt and black leather jacket, his long red hair arranged in a ponytail and his tan skin gave him an exotic look as enters the Morganroete Facility, he passed several security checkpoints where he had to constantly show his ID card and be searched for anything suspect. Of course they wouldn't find anything and even if they did, nothing would happen. As part of his cover, Alex was listed as an engineer and ironically he was also listed as a Coordinator.

Today however the security was higher than usual, probably because the G-Weapons were being shipped today.

"You are here early" spoke an Earth Alliance soldier disguised as a Morganroete Security Employee, Alex recognize him as one of the top officers in charge of the security of the G-Units.

"Hey Bob" Alex greeted with a sigh "That bastard Kato dumped me with even more work than usual; I swear it's like the man doesn't know the meaning of overwork."

Bob gave him a sympathetic smile "Can't be helped the prototypes are being loaded today onboard the Archangel and from what he heard Kato hasn't finished completing the OS, something about his computer being corrupted or some other bullshit excuse." grumbles the EA undercover agent.

Alex scowls in agreement but internally he was cackling evilly, since the Alliance was determined to screw Orb, he had introduced a virus inside Professor Kato's computer and Morganroete database, erasing all of their work on the Operating Systems for the G-Units.

"_Payback's a bitch"_ he thought

"Have you guys loaded all the units onboard yet?" he asks curious, he had already finished data extraction on all the machines, for now he was just here to ensure that things ran smoothly.

"Not yet" Bob says with a frustrated sigh "Heliopolis governor wants us to wait until nightfall to move the prototypes so that we don't attract public attention."

"Make sense" Alex says, "Orb is still neutral, we can't afford the bad publicity"

Bob gave him a slight glare, as far as he knew Alex was a simple engineer but with military clearance "If you guys are able to build weapons like that, why the hell you guys aren't trying to make a difference in this war?"

Alex chuckled, Bob may be an EA agent but he had a valid point "Don't look at me Bob I am just a grunt like you."

"Sorry" apologizes the man "It's just I am tired of this war, I just hope these machines are worth it."

"So do I" Alex said, "Well I got to run, see you later"

"Sure"

Alex passed by the hangar where he saw several dull grey colored mobile suits laying on flatbed trucks.

The thought of the Alliance having access to such powerful weapons irked Alex, his time as a covert operative had given him a unique insight of the politics surrounding the nation members of the Alliance. Most of the public believe this war is due to hatred between Naturals and Coordinators, while it might have been the catalyst after Junius 7, the reasons where much simpler and at the same time more complex. The PLANTS where intended to become scientific and technological centers, unlike what popular beliefs made it out to be.

It wasn't made to isolate Coordinators; such reasoning was plain stupid and money wasting. Why build such technological marvel that cost trillions when you could put them inside cheaper colonies like Heliopolis. People often forget that many Naturals were part of the PLANTS construction or still live in it even after Junius 7. Coordinators are a majority in these colonies and their numbers swelled since the opening of the PLANTS prompting to call the place their homes and then came the political party known as ZAFT. The PLANTS helped revitalize the economy of many nations on Earth but due to Blue Cosmos constant attacks and the flow of Coordinator refugees to these colonies, Earth countries became too dependent of the PLANTS resources. Had they taken measures to protect Coordinators rights and dealt swiftly with Blue Cosmos, the PLANTS wouldn't have rebelled and when they did rebel, the nations of Earth realized how reliant they had become of the Coordinator space base products. Not wanting to lose such profits they attempted military force only to have ZAFT show up with mobile suits and kick asses thoroughly. Of course the PLANTS were also at fault, they realized how valuable they had become to their masters and in their arrogance they developed a politic of isolation which cultivated a belief that they were superior to Naturals, had they been more accommodating it might have prevented the war and cooler heads would've prevailed. Unfortunately a war that started for purely economic reasons transformed into a war between races after Junius 7 and the Neutron Jammer drop; both sides unwilling to negotiate and accept each other.

Alex arrived at Kato's office which also doubled as his. Opening the door he saw three occupants inside the lab, two were familiar but the third one was an unknown, evident by the cap on her head, but her blonde hair and orange eyes were somehow familiar to him.

"_Where have I seen her before?"_ he wondered only to be interrupted in his musing by Sai Argyle speaking to him.

"Hey Alex, you are here early" spoke the young student

"Why do people keep saying that?" the red hair sighs, causing Sai and his other friend Kuzzey Bruzzwick to chuckle.

"Because you hate it when Professor Kato dumps his work on you" Kuzzey says

"Perhaps if you two slackers were more diligent I wouldn't have to work so much" Alex replies in a deadpan before glancing at the mysterious girl "Who is she?"

Sai leans toward his ear and whispers "She says she is a friend of Professor Kato and she is waiting for him."

Alex frowned, while it is true that Kato being a part time university professor allowed him to have student working for him, everyone that came here had to be given a thorough background check and vetoed not only by Morganroete Security but the Alliance. Alex having a backdoor to the security mainframe and a photographic memory knew each and everyone here but he didn't recall hearing of this girl being brought in.

"_How the hell did she manage to evade security?"_ he thought, he was interrupted from thinking further when the door opened and three newcomers came in.

"Hey Kira, Tolle, Miri" Sai greeted

"Hey guys" Alex greeted as well, deciding to question the mystery girl later but he would keep an eye on her.

"Hi Alex" Kira shook hand with him "Haven't seen you in a while"

"That bastard Kato's been keeping me busy" Alex says

"Torii" a green mechanical bird sang and landed on Alex's shoulder, making the red hair smile "Hey little guy it's been a while."

"Yeah, Torii has been missing you" Kira remarked "I still haven't thanked you for repairing him"

Indeed, a month ago, Kira's robotic pet had short-circuited when it tangled with some electrical wires in a workshop at the university. Alex who happened to pass by saw what happened and offered to repair it. He also added new parts to reinforce Torii's frame and an evasion program to avoid similar incident.

"No sweat" Alex patted Kira's shoulder "Letting me repair and tweak it a bit gave me an opportunity to study it. I am thinking of building my own pet later on."

Kira chuckles at the enthusiasm of his friend and co-worker, he liked Alex despite finding him odd and mysterious. The man slightly older than him seemed full of secrets but it wasn't his place to ask or pry.

Alex also liked Kira despite finding the boy's naiveté to be a bit annoying but it was balanced by his kindness and computer talents. Of course Alex knew that Kira was a Coordinator but he wasn't biased by such factors. However he didn't like how Kato had involved the boy into the G-Project without his knowledge and was using him to complete his work on the OS. If the Alliance learned that Kira was responsible for their progress they would do everything to coerce him on their sides, thus Alex had gone to great length to keep Kira away from Kato as much as possible and hence one of the reasons why he sabotaged their work.

An hour passed as the group of students and Alex work and chatted amiably inside the lab without a care for the world. Tolle was once again up to his regular antics but Miri kept him in line; Sai was harassed about his relationship with a certain Flay Allster while Kuzzey being always shy stayed in the corner when questioned about his secret girlfriend. Kira laughed the stress of work and news about the war evaporated with the presence of his friends. Alex shared his feelings, seeing the joy and innocence of these young people made him forget about the realities outside of Heliopolis and for a moment he began to hope that the peace of this colony would not be disrupted.

A tremor shook the room, startling everyone inside

"What was that?" Miri asks slightly afraid

"A meteor shower perhaps" Sai said

Alex however was frowning as he recognize what it is

"_So it begins"_ he thought grimly, his hands morphing into a fist as he realized that war had finally arrived at the once peaceful colony of Heliopolis.

"ZAFT is attacking" shouted someone in the hallways of Morganroete labs "Their mobile suits have entered the colony"

"ZAFT is here?" Kira asks in shock, his mind wandering to his childhood friend Athrun Zala who was the son of the Chairman of Defense of the PLANTS.

"Let head to the shelters" Sai proposed

"Good idea" Alex says as he opened a locker at the corner of the lab, revealing a duffel bag which he opened, extracting a holster containing a USB SOCOM pistol with laser sight. Amidst the shock looks of the students he attached the weapon behind his waist along with several pistol magazines before closing the bag and placing it on his shoulder.

"Alex what's going on?" Kira asks, shocked to see his friend carrying a weapon, but what shocked him more was the new demeanor in Alex's body language. His blue eyes were radiating something cold and fierce and his body stance seems akin to a lion ready to pounce on his prey.

"Morganroete has been developing weapons here, which means this place is a target for ZAFT" Alex explains "You guys head to the shelters and stay there until things calm down, alright?"

The students were shocked by such revelation but sensing Alex's tone leaving no argument for discussion they complied and joined the crowd outside with Alex closing behind them; suddenly he saw the mystery girl running toward the other end of the hallway, Kira having spotted her as well followed to stop her.

"Damn it" Alex scowls, these kids were throwing themselves to danger so he went after them.

"Let go of me!" the girl yelled back at Kira while moving her hand, her hat fell down, revealing her facial features.

"You…you are a girl?" Kira asks surprised

"What do you suppose I was?" growls the blonde

"Cagalli Yula Atha!" Alex screams, an angry scowl on his face that causes both teenagers to flinch "What the fuck are you doing here?" he asks, a loud explosion echoes from afar, interrupting their conversation. Knowing that time is of the essence, Alex punches Cagalli in the guts and grabs her before she falls as she is unconscious, then he and hands her over to a stunned Kira.

"She is the daughter of the leader of Orb" Alex explains "Take her to a shelter and both of you stay there until rescue comes."

"What about you?" the young Coordinator asks, visibly worried for his friend

"I have something to take care of, go on ahead" he tells him and pushes him on the back to move.

It is clear that Kira has a lot of question but knowing that the life of Cagalli was more important he obeys and carries her in his arms.

Alex watches the boy leave, he could've carried her to a shelter but he knew that he would waste precious time and ZAFT would beat him to the objective if he didn't hurry. The G-Units were not the only secrets here on Heliopolis and Alex needed to make sure ZAFT or the Alliance didn't find it.

….

Alex reached a hangar block located on the opposite side of the facility; from the outside the place look like any small time storage hangars that littered the Morganroete facility.

As he reached the entrance, he overheard some voices

"This is Dingo team; we have found what appears to be a sixth machine"

"Very well, we will proceed to bring it to the Vesalius, Dingo team out." The ZAFT green coat turned off his radio and gestured his men to open the hangar. In the middle of said hangar is a black and yellow machine covered by a thick black cloak.

Alex curses silently; he didn't expect ZAFT to find out about this place since it didn't exist on the blueprint. His guess was that they found it due to luck or coincidence.

"_Either way I need to get rid of them"_ he thought, he opens his duffel bag, extracting a grenade belt which he then attaches around his waist.

"Time to roll" he mutters

….

"Looks like Intel botch the job, again" says a ZAFT green coat

"Sure thing mate but look at it this way, when we get back with this baby, Patrick Zala will make us Red Coats." chuckles another green coat

"Damn right he will promote us, I am sick and tired of…."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a rolling object landing on their feet and exploding into a brilliant flash of light.

Blinded by the flash bang grenade, the ZAFT soldiers were unable to see Alex storming the hangar, pistol with his two hands and firing.

His first victim was the squad leader of the Green Coats who was about to climb onto the mobile suit. The Coordinator died courtesy of one bullet in his neck and two more perforating his ribs, reducing his internal organs into a messy pulp.

Still dizzy from the flash bang effect, the ZAFT soldiers did not notice yet the death of their leader, allowing Alex to take out three more in their ranks by perforating their helmet and faces. The rest of the squad now stood awake and opened fire in his direction, prompting the red hair to take cover behind a metal crate. He picked a smoke grenade on his belt and lobbed it above the crate. The grenade exploded engulfing the room with dark smoke.

The shouts and cries of panic, confirmed Alex's theory since he threw the flash bang. These guys were not trained commandos or Special Forces but regular grunts. Had they been commandos their normal suits would feature reinforced armor plating, polarized visors, integrated HUD targeting system and thermal vision.

"_Whoever is commanding this offensive must've jumped the gun" _the red hair thoughts _"True professionals would've performed extensive reconnaissance of the colony before attacking, failing that they would've waited outside Heliopolis airspace to launch an ambush. Then again Zala and his cronies have never been known to be subtle or like the delicate approach."_

Alex had known that ZAFT would've attacked but not in this fashion; usually such delicate operation was handed to ZEOG (ZAFT Elite Operation Group) whose skills and reputation was on par with the infamous SAS, Delta Force and Spetnaz but Alex also knew that the deployment of ZEOG could only be done with the permission of the PLANTS Supreme Chairman.

"_Which means this is either a knee jerk reaction to the G-Project or an unsanctioned Op" _Alex thought as he fired twice in the darkness, having spotted an approaching silhouette.

"Bobby is down!"

"Toss a grenade, will take him out"

"Belay that. Regroup around me guys and keep your eyes sharp!" says a ZAFT soldier as he unleashes a short burst in the direction Alex took cover.

"_What a bunch of amateurs"_ Alex thought as he exited his cover as stealthily as possible, making sure he didn't make any noise.

"_That's what happens when you are too reliant on mobile suits and forgo conventional wisdom"_

He had a mental map of the room down to the last detail, thus he knew where to go and what to avoid. Furthermore the voices of his enemies allowed him to guess their positions. Had they been true professionals, they would've stayed silent so as to minimize the chances of detection, caused a diversion to break his focus and establish a Killzone around his objective: the mobile suits. But having never been confronted to an invisible enemy and being too reliant on technology, the ZAFT soldiers were totally hopeless.

Swiftly and silently, Alex found his first target grabbed his neck and twisted it. He carefully put the dead body on the floor so as to not make any noise. He then picked a knife on fallen soldier and went to find his next victim, which he pierced the back of his skull. The last two who were hiding behind a crate were gun down from behind courtesy of an assault rifle Alex pilfered from their fallen comrades.

The smoke around the hangar dissipated and eight ZAFT soldiers now lay dead on the floor. Satisfied he had eliminated all intruders Alex didn't waste time and jumped onboard the mobile suit's cockpit. He pressed the start up activation sequence, the main screen displaying bright letters.

**General**

**Unilateral**

**Nexus**

**Drive**

**Assault**

**Module**

**G.U.N.D.A.M Arbalest Synthesis OP v1.4**

"Pff" scoffs Alex "What a mouthful" He then grabbed the controls and began to raise the mobile suit from its berth.

"Arbalest Gundam; taking off!"

…

**War has finally reached the tranquil colony of Heliopolis. It is up to Alex to keep his friends safe from ZAFT's wrath. Unfortunately their exposure to the Alliance secret weapons makes them already a target. If that wasn't enough the Crucible of Yggdrasil, the infamous Rau LeCreuset decides to test the mettle of the Gundams personally.**

**Next time on Gundam Seed: The Raven: The Crucible arrives. Destroy those who stand in your path Arbalest!**

Unit: GX-117 Arbalest

Unit type: Prototype Multi-General Purpose Mobile Suit

Manufacturer: Morgenroete

Operator(s):Alex Klein

Accommodation: Pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso

Power plant: Classified, power output rating unknown

Dimensions:Height: 18.4 Meters; Weight: 67.7 Tons

Equipment and design features: G-Core (classified); ODS (Optical Detection System); Composite Laminated Armor; has hardpoints for accommodating Strike Packs.

Fixed Armaments: 2 x CIWS Iggelstellung, mounted on forehead fire link; 2 x Sigma Beam Sabers, mounted behind the waist; 2 x Pallas Beam Boomerangs, mounted on the shoulders; 1 x G-Blade, mounted on arm shield; 2 x Multi-purpose grenade launchers, hidden in the legs; 4 x Beam Blades, hidden in the elbows and toes.

Optional Fixed Armaments: 1 x Stiletto Launcher; 1 x Anti-Ship Beam Sword

Optional Armaments: Beam Assault Rifle; Plasma Shotgun; Electromagnetic Rifle; Missile Launchers

Technical & Historical Notes

As part of his payment to oversee the security of the G-Units, the Earth Alliance and Morganroete developed a mobile suit tailored specifically for the illusive mercenary Alexander Klein aka the Raven. At first glance the Arbalest seems to be a close combat oriented mobile suit but in reality it is design for guerilla warfare and like the Strike it can be modified with a variety of equipments for a variety of roles and missions. It can also be outfitted with the same weapon packs as the Strike. Unlike the other G-Units, the Arbalest doesn't use Phase Shift armor because Alex deemed it unreliable due to power requirements and its prohibitive cost, instead the frame is covered by a layer of Laminated Composite Armor, the same alloy use on the Archangel, making this mobile suit very difficult to destroy. While Morganroete built the suit and used EA technology, Alex was the one who designed and supervised the construction of the Arbalest in the first place, thus it contains a number of unknown features and technologies that not even the Alliance and ZAFT seems to be aware of.

**Colors: **Black and yellow

**Author's note:**

Appearance wise the Arbalest has the head and torso of the Exia, the legs of the Astray Frame series, the shoulders of the Strike and the arms of the Aegis. I like to think I created a badass mobile suit for a badass character. Like Alex, the Arbalest is design for fighting dirty and nasty, which means a lot of people in the story are either going to be pissed or running scared when they see what he can do with it.


	2. Phase 2: The Crucible Arrives

…

Outside the Morganroete main hangar, two GINNs, one colored orange with a white skull on its left shoulder and the other dress in regular green standard color were busy trying to take out the fifth prototype code name the Strike.

Onboard his custom GINN Miguel Aiman scowls, not only had they lost a number of comrades but one of the rookies, Rusty McKenzie had perished in their attempt to take the two remaining mobile suits. Fortunately Athrun had succeeded in his task and was now on his way back to the ship. However to make things worse, Miguel had received earlier a transmition from Dingo team telling him that they found a sixth machine, only for them to cease communication four minutes ago.

Miguel and his teammate opened fire again on the prototype mobile suit, only to have their bullets bounce on its Phase Shift Armor, once again confirming Athrun's words about how tough this protection was.

"Jake" Miguel radioed his teammate "cover me while I take this guy up close"

"I got your back Miguel"

Miguel stored his rifle away and drew the anti-armor sword, he might not be able to pierce the Phase Shift but he could bet that the protection did not extend to the joints.

"_If I disable its limbs it won't be able to move anymore"_ thought the ZAFT ace with a mad grin, he could also tell that the pilot was a rookie and was having a hard time controlling the machine. _"As expected of a Natural, without a proper OS it doesn't matter how good their machines are."_

As he rushed his GINN to slice the Strike's legs, the mobile suit in question opened fire with the CIWS Iggelstellung on its forehead, forcing Miguel to dodge, but being an experienced pilot he adapted quickly and resumed his course, performing a downward slash at the Strike's shoulder, only for the mobile suit to raise its hands in a cross guard, blocking his attack.

"What the…?" Miguel was so surprised that he didn't spot in time the Strike raising its left leg and kicking his GINN on the chest, sending it flying away and crash on a nearby building.

"That's it" growls the ZAFT pilot "I am taking you down!" He was about to charge when a large explosion on the other side of the facility roared followed by a large cloud of smoke. Miguel saw a large humanoid figure emerge from the smoke and land gracefully on top of a building.

"What the hell?" Jake his wingman asks stun like Miguel "Is that the other mobile suit?"

The mobile suit in question look nothing like the previous prototypes except for its head which seems to share the same familiarity as the Strike, but its eyes are green and the facemask is a solid reverse triangular piece, making it look like a ninja. Its primary color was black with patches of yellow on its chest, knees and shoulders. Its shoulders were as long as the Aegis but also sharper; its body was slimmer than the other suits but seems also thicker. Miguel spotted a number of vectoring nozzles and thrusters on its waist, shoulders and legs implying that it was a machine tailored for speed and agility. On its left arm is a small rectangular shield concealing a folded blade, on its hips are what looks like a pair of pistols.

Miguel didn't know why but the sight of this new mobile suit caused a chill to creep on his spine, for it looked very intimidating.

…..

Onboard the Arbalest, Alex watched the three mobile suits stop in their track due to his entrance.

"Two GINNS and one G-Weapon" mutters the red hair as the screen displays data on all three machines. He recognized the Strike; somehow the machine had survived capture from ZAFT which was good in his opinion. Out of all five prototypes, the Strike is the most dangerous due to its versatility and multiple equipments. Only the Blitz comes ahead simply because of its Stealth features. It was obvious judging from the scene in front of him that the EA mobile suit was in trouble but Alex didn't care.

"So long as they don't wreck the colony I wouldn't care for anything else" he says aloud, he was about to turn back when he spotted the regular color GINN raise its rifle at him.

Alex chuckles realizing it wasn't going to be easy to escape "Of course it's not like they will just let me go."

The GINN opens fire, but the Arbalest jump, making a barrel roll, avoiding the rounds and lands behind the GINN. As the ZAFT machine turns around, Alex opens fire with the CIWS Iggelstellung on the forehead. The high velocity bullets impact the GINN's rifle violently destroying it. But the GINN pilot seems undeterred, draws its sword and rushes at him.

The blade on the Arbalest left arm, the G-Blade unfolds, its edges glowing pink. Alex crouch his mobile suit, avoiding a decapitating sword strike and then slashes the GINN at the waist, splitting it in half.

"JAKE!" Miguel shouts as he watches in horror the two halves of his teammate mobile suit separate and explode behind the black mobile suit.

"You son of the bitch!" screams Miguel, anger overriding his judgment he ignores the Strike and rushes at the new mobile suit, drawing his rifle while keeping his sword on the other hand, Miguel opens fire wildly.

"Idiot!" Alex scowls as he takes the Arbalest into evasive action, unlike the G-Weapons, the Arbalest doesn't have Phase Shift, instead it was outfitted with an external experimental armor that is as durable as Phase Shift but since it hadn't been tested yet, Alex didn't want to take any risks.

His proximity sensors suddenly flared up as it detected several heat signatures on the ground between him and the GINN. Alex focused one of his cameras on the ground while keeping an eye on the infuriated mobile suit. His eyes widen as he realize there was civilians down there and not just anyone.

"Sai, Tolle, Mir and Kuzzey" he mutters, they mustn't have reached a shelter and now here they were in a middle of a battle zone.

"Damn you ZAFT!" curses Alex as he push the Arbalest forward and slashes the GINN's rifle. The firearm explodes, but Miguel undeterred, stabs the Arbalest with his sword. However the Arbalest vectoring nozzles on the waist flares and pushes it away, avoiding the sword strike. Alex then punches the GINN, followed by a high kick, sending it crash on a building, away from his friends.

As the GINN regains its balance, the Strike which had stayed inert since the Arbalest appearance suddenly rushes in, armored daggers in hand and stabs the GINN on the neck, crippling it.

Alex sighs in relief and sees that his friends have not been harmed; however he spots the GINN cockpit opening and its pilot leaving.

"Oh Shit!" Alex opens a radio channel to the Strike "Get away now, it's going to blow!"

The Strike barely moves away as the GINN explodes, reducing the surrounding area into a sea of flame.

…..

In a small clearing the Arbalest lands on one knee next to the Strike and the Heliopolis students, powering down his machine, Alex exit the cockpit via descent cable and lands on the ground.

"Alex is that you?" Tolle shouts in surprise, the same expression courses on the faces of the others.

"You guys alright?" Alex asks as he comes closer, he notices Kira and Miri are bandaging an unconscious woman dress in an orange jumpsuit. The red hair instantly recognizes her as Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, EA Special Division.

"What happened there?" Sai asks with a glare aimed at Alex "Why did ZAFT attack us and why do you pilot a mobile suit?"

Alex sighs knowing that something like that would happen "Like I told you earlier Morganroete was developing weapons here on Heliopolis. Weapons that happen to be mobile suits like the Strike." He pointed at the grey dull colored mobile suit whose PS was turned off.

A slight moan from a waking Ramius stalled Alex from further explanation

"Where am I?" the female officer asks as she regains consciousness

"Don't worry you are safe" Kira tells her "These are my friends"

Murrue gave him a grateful look but she frowns as she noticed the teenagers gathered around the mobile suit. Her military instinct kicks in and she draws her sidearm, pointing it at the shocked students.

"I am sorry but since you've seen a military secret I am afraid I have to detain you" she explains with a twinge of sadness. She didn't like involving civilians but now she had no choice.

"I don't think so" says a voice, followed by the cold touch of a barrel nestled behind her head, Murrue surprised, glances behind her, noticing a red hair man probably 17 or 18 years old holding a pistol against her.

Realizing she is been outmaneuvered she raises her hand and Alex takes her weapon away before motioning her to sit down.

"Those kids are civilian Lieutenant" Alex says "and I think it is a little bit too late now that ZAFT gas stolen your prototype mobile suits in broad day light."

Murrue frowns as she wonders how the man knows her name and rank, but then she suddenly remembers that she has seen his face somewhere.

"I remember you. You are one of the engineers at Morganroete" Murrue declares, causing Alex to chuckle "Not exactly, my name is Alex Klein I am a private contractor hired by Morganroete and Admiral Halberton to supervise the security and transport of the G-Units."

This revelation causes Murrue eyes to grow wide like dinner plates, the same can be said for Kira and his friends.

"You are a mercenary?" Murrue asks "We were never briefed about you being here?"

Alex chuckled furthermore before holstering his weapon "I am sure Admiral Halberton mentioned Asset Lambda 7."

If Murrue jaw could fall on the floor it would create a large crater; she knew what Asset Lambda 7 meant, a code word given to the senior staff of the Archangel to identify a covert security operative who has Admiral Halberton complete and utter trust.

"What is your counter sign?" she asks, she needed to be sure

"Romeo 5, Delta 11" Alex replied smoothly. He wasn't lying, Halberton and Morganroete had contracted his services but they were not aware of his true allegiance. Although he suspected the EA Admiral might know the truth but Alex didn't worry, Halberton was not like most of the assholes comprising the Joint Chiefs of the Alliance.

Murrue sighed in relief, she wasn't alone anymore; her eyes spotted the black and yellow mobile suit, she recognizes it as the one that rescued them earlier.

"I don't recognize that machine" she says

"Understandable, it was part of my payment in return for my services I demanded they build a mobile suit for my own personal use." He says that part was especially true as well, although he omitted to mention that he designed the blueprint for the Arbalest.

"So all this time you were lying?" Kira ask, speaking for the first time since the conversation began

Alex sighed once again knowing that he had to face such situation "I didn't lie to you entirely Kira, aside from being a mercenary I am also an engineer but considering I was involved in a top secret project can you blame me if I didn't tell you everything?"

Kira look pensive for a moment before nodding "I guess you are right but why did Orb help build mobile suits for the Alliance?" he asks

"Yeah" Tolle spoke as well "Aren't we suppose to be neutral?"

Alex shook his head; these kids were really naïve, then again when you live a sheltered life you tend not to know of what lies outside.

"Technically Orb didn't build those machines but Morganroette. It is a private company so they can do pretty much everything they want even if it is an Orb base industry. As for your question Tolle I hate to say it but being neutral doesn't mean shit nowadays. On paper it might seems that Orb will not involve itself in the conflict between Earth and ZAFT but in reality if it wants to survive this war it has no other choice but to get involved." Alex explains with a deadpan expression

"We can debate about politics later" Murrue says, bringing everyone's attention to her "Right now we need to find a way to leave the colony before more ZAFT forces shows up."

"Agreed" Alex says before turning to Sai and Tolle "You two, head back to the Morganroete Facility, North Wing; there should be two container trucks, Number 5 Trailer and GX Container. Don't worry you won't find anyone there."

He then motion Kira to follow him to the side away from ear shots

"What happened to Cagalli, the girl I handed to you to keep safe?" he asks

"We made our way to the shelters of the factory district" Kira explains "She woke up when we stumbled upon the mobile suit hangar; there was a gun fight so we ran away. I managed to put her into a shelter but since there were only enough places for one person I left her there to find another one. I doubled back to the mobile suit hangar and Miss Ramius took me onboard the Strike."

Alex raised an eyebrow; slowly the pieces were coming together. He had been surprised by the Strike's movements since it wasn't supposed to move like that due to its OS being incomplete.

"Did you pilot the Strike?" he asks, Kira nodded meekly; Alex cursed himself internally, he had been ready to leave the Strike to its fate not knowing there was a civilian onboard. He was glad he had stayed, who knows what might happened. Alex instincts told him that Kira hadn't told him the entire story but he decided not to pry, the boy had been through enough. What mattered now was to get him and the others to safety.

…..

**A few minutes later**

"Is this the one, trailer number 5?" Sai asks

"Yes" Murrue told him "Kira can you lower the Strike?"

"Roger", the Coordinator student onboard the Strike, lowered the mobile suit next to the trailer. Murrue and Alex were watching them on the ground, next to the second truck brought by Tolle which contains the rest of the Arbalest weaponry.

"Aren't you going to turn down the Phase Shift on your machine?" Murrue asks Alex, pointing the Arbalest.

The red hair gave her a quizzical look before understanding dawn on him, he then chuckled "The Arbalest doesn't use Phase Shift. The bean counters at Morganroete found it to expansive for a mercenary like I."

Murrue nodded, although internally she wondered why Morganroete did and her superiors agreed to build a mobile suit for this man. Granted he was a mercenary she felt that he had not done a good job regarding the protection of the prototypes. Furthermore she that Alex hadn't told her the whole truth regarding his true purpose. While he was young, she had to admit that his demeanor betrayed a skilled and deadly soldier.

"_Not to mention an excellent pilot, the way he took out that GINN, it was swift and precise. The Operating System for Natural pilots is still incomplete so he must be a Coordinator. The same for that boy name Kira."_ thought Ramius, for now she will not ask any questions but once they are out of harm's way she would need some further clarifications regarding Alex.

As the Launcher Pack was finally installed on the Striker's back, Alex decided to head to the GX trailer to see what weapons he could outfit the Arbalest and perhaps the Strike as well.

BOOOOM!

An explosion caused everyone to raise their heads and spot in the artificial sky a lone orange colored mobile armor and a white colored mobile suit.

"_That's a Moebius Zero and that mobile suit is a CGUE"_ Alex thought as he studied the two machines. The former was a rarity nowadays since the disaster at Grimaldi and the latter was reserved for ZAFT ace pilots and Commanders.

Suddenly Alex felt a tingle at the back of his mind, causing him to narrow his eyes as he now had confirmation of who were behind the controls of both machines. _"So they are here, both of them"_ he turned to Ramius who had a worried expression.

"Take the kids to the trees, now!" Alex orders her as he rushes toward the Arbalest, Ramius nods and urges the students to follow her.

Unfortunately it seems the CGUE has spotted them as it finish disabling the last remaining Gunbarrel on the Moebius Zero.

"So this is why Miguel failed" ZAFT Commander Rau LeCreuset says as he zoom his CGUE's head camera at the two mobile suits.

The CGUE descends toward them and open fire with its assault rifle, bullets flying toward the Strike. However the dull grey mobile suit switches colors and the bullets bounces on its armor, causing the mask pilot to curse lightly. His CGUE sensors suddenly cry in alarm, detecting something approaching fast. Rau moves to the side, avoiding a flying boomerang courtesy of the Arbalest now in the air. Rau aims his rifle at the mobile suit but the thrown weapon turns around and slices his rifle in half, forcing him to toss it before it explodes.

Alex catches the Pallas Boomerang, places it back on the Arbalest left shoulder and unfolds the G-Blade before adopting a combat stance.

Rau accepts the challenge and draws his CGUE's anti-armor sword, both machines rushes at each other, their blade meeting together and causes lightning sparks to erupt upon contact. Both mobile suits back away and rush again at each other, exchanging swift blade strikes but none of them seem to connect.

Onboard his CGUE Rau feels pleasantly surprised and delighted to face such opponent despite being pissed that his contact didn't tell him anything about this sixth machine.

"_Could it be that Azrael didn't know about it?"_ thought the mask pilot. He wouldn't be surprised if Ob had used the opportunity developing their own.

For now Rau put those thoughts aside as he concentrated on the battle, it was clear that while this mobile suit was powerful, the pilot onboard was also very skilled. Furthermore Rau had sensed a presence from that machine like the way he senses Mu, but it was unfamiliar.

"_Seems like there is another kindred spirit on this Earth"_ he thought as he cackled madly

Alex felt a nauseous chill creep in his stomach as he battled Rau Le Creuset, how did he know that? Simply because he had been at Grimaldi, during that cataclysmic battle to investigate reports of a CYCLOP bomb underneath the base. Alex had barely managed to find the rumored WMD and escape with his life, just in time to see LeCreuset and Mu LaFlaga ducking out with each other. The former at the time was piloting a GINN HM type and the latter was using a Zero like today. Alex remembered perfectly the slight psychic connection he had felt from both pilots. It had been short but Alex would never forget what he glimpsed from Rau's mind.

The CGUE blocked the G-Blade with its sword once again, but this time it raised the Vulcan Shield on its right arm which contained a Gatling canon.

"I win!" Rau shouted as he prepared to shoot point blank at the mobile suit

"Bullshit!" Alex shouted as he drew a beam saber stored behind the Arbalest waist. The black container on the Arbalest right arm ignited a purple blade of light and slashed at the CGUE's right arm, severing it and its Vulcan Shield.

A shocked Rau backed away, avoiding a second slash that would've severed his CGUE's torso, however the Arbalest CIWS guns fired, piercing its mono-eye and blowing its head off.

Rau gritted his teeth as he tried to regain control of his machine and escape. He switched to the torso camera just in time to see the Arbalest charging at him, its main blade raised.

"I can't let a monster like you get away!" a voice shouted over the radio, Rau was startled by how young the voice was but also at the implied statement, making him wonder who he was dealing with.

Just as the Arbalest was about to slice him in half, a twin ruby lances of energy obliterated the artificial mountain next to the Morganroete facility in a spectacular explosion. From the smoke cloud a majestic looking white ship emerged like a bird soaring to the skies.

"The Archangel?" Alex asks shocked

"So they failed to destroy it!" Rau says as he too watches the prototype warship exiting the secret dock. Knowing he has a narrow window of escape, Rau kicks the Arbalest away from him and pushes his CGUE toward the spaceport, intent on running away.

"Shit!" Alex curses himself for being distracted, he had an opportunity to end LeCreuset but it was too late. He could pursue him but Alex was crazy enough to rush into the unknown blindly. Who knows how many enemies lie outside?

"This is the Archangel to unknown mobile suit, identify yourself" a female voice spoke over an open channel.

"This is Operative Alex Klein onboard the Arbalest, authorization code Lambda 7" replies the red hair "Don't bother you won't find my code, for now just know that Lieutenant Ramius and the Strike are safe. Have the hangar opened and tech crew ready to assist us, over." Before the woman could ask further clarification, Alex turned off the radio, not willing to talk anymore. He needed to think and plan his next move. It was clear that Rau LeCreuset is in charge of the strike force here in Heliopolis, which did not bode well for the people of this colony and the EA survivors.

"Not if I have anything to say about it" Alex mutters as his eyes fix on the white warship

…

**Alex, Kira and friends join with the crew of the Archangel and together they must hatch a plan to escape Heliopolis. Unfortunately the sinister ZAFT Commander Rau LeCreuset is not intent on giving respite to the crew and sends his remaining forces to sink the white warship and the colony with it. With a reluctant Kira Yamato, it is up to Alex Klein to accomplish the impossible and save Heliopolis from destruction. Next time on Gundam Seed: The Raven: Bait and Slash. Show them who lurks behind the shadows, Arbalest!**


	3. Phase 3: Bait and Slash

**Here is another Chapter and it is the longest due to the action.**

Alex and the Arbalest entered the Archangel's hangar bay last, since he was the most experienced and combat ready, he had opted to let the damage Zero enter first, followed by the Strike piloted by Kira Yamato. Finding an empty berth, Alex motioned his mobile suit there and then powered it down before exiting. Inside the hangar Lieutenant Ramius was discussing with the crew, among the group, Alex recognize Ensign Natarle Badgiruel from the files he had been given by Halberton a few weeks ago. She is a nonsense officer issued from a long family line of military career officers. Halberton had handpicked her because of her professionalism and straight to the book attitude, which was better than having a Blue Cosmos fanatic.

Alex also recognized Mu LaFlaga, while he had seen him at the Battle of Grimaldi, the two had never spoken or met face to face, but being a poster face in the Alliance recruitment campaign, the Hawk of Endymion was a very recognizable figure.

"So you are a Coordinator?" Mu asks Kira Yamato, the boy nodded wearily; suddenly some of the armed marines raised their weapons. Alex was about to rush in when surprisingly Tolle Koenig stepped in front of them.

"He may be a Coordinator but Kira saved our lives and he is our friend!" Tolle said to them, his eyes defiant to the end.

"Lower your weapons men" Murrue orders sternly, not pleased by her comrades' sudden panic, the soldiers reluctantly obey.

"Lieutenant what is going on?" Natarle asks Murrue feeling suspicious of having a Coordinator in their midst

"It's not surprising" Alex says interrupting them "Orb is one of the few nations that accept Coordinators, so it is natural to find some seeking refuge in their territories to avoid the war. Am I Right Kira?"

"True, especially since I am a First Generation Coordinator" the boy replies

"That means your parents are Naturals, right?" Mu says to which the boy nods "I am sorry for being rude I was curious." the ace pilot explains "On our way here I watched the pilots of the G-Weapons struggle hard on the simulators. They could barely move these machines, had they been deployed in combat I don't think they would've survived."

Mu then turned to Alex "Who are you by the way?"

"Alex Klein, I am a private contractor hired by Admiral Halberton" the red hair explains "Lieutenant Ramius can vouch for my credentials."

"It's true" Ramius confirms "I can also tell you he is a remarkable pilot; he took out a GINN and nearly destroyed that CGUE before the ship exited."

Flashes of shock echoed amongst the crewmen

"I saw it too" Mu says with a chuckle "That was some amazing flying you did. Man, I never thought I would see Rau LeCreuset run away with the tail between his legs."

"Rau LeCreuset" Natarle gasps, along with Murrue and a few others who had heard of the infamous ZAFT ace "The Crucible of Yggdrasil that was him in that CGUE?"

"Indeed" Alex says with a low growl as he glared at the crew, causing a few people to back away "I would've killed that bastard for good had you not decided to come gun blazing!" Natarle and Newman had the amiability to look abashed.

"Are you a Coordinator as well?" Mu asks but Alex shook his head "Nope, I am a hundred percent Natural"

"What?" the word was spoken by many at the same time, causing Alex to grin. It always made him laugh when people ask him if he was a Coordinator.

"But that's impossible" Natarle says "Only a Coordinator can pilot a mobile suit and the OS for the G-Units hasn't been completed yet."

Alex sighs "An OS can help only so far in the long run. While it may seem impossible for Naturals to pilot a mobile suit like the GINN because Coordinators have superior reflexes, the truth is that those with a sufficient degree of spatial awareness can also pilot a mobile suit. I admit it is extremely difficult but with hard work and dedication, it isn't impossible."

A shocked silence echoed across the hangar as everyone digested this revelation. Mu curious as ever decided to throw one more question.

"What is that machine's name? I don't remember seeing it in the data I was given on my way here." he asks pointing a thumb at the black and yellow mobile suit.

"That's the GX001 Arbalest" Alex says "The reason why you didn't hear of it is because part of my agreement with Halberton and Morganroete was that they would build a mobile suit of my own design."

Mu whistles at the revelation "Halberton must really like you to have authorized something like this"

Alex grins at the comment "He and I go way back, LaFlaga." he then turns to the rest of the crew "Am I safe to assume that most of the senior staff have perished?" he asks, Natarle and Ramius nod their heads sadly.

"So who is in charge?" Alex asks

"That would be Lieutenant Ramius, but Lieutenant LaFlaga and you have seniority" Natarle explains. Indeed, in addition of being a contractor, Alex was also given a temporary commission to help smooth things over. It was not unusual for mercenaries to be given ranks but it wasn't advertized either.

"I don't know squat about this ship" Alex says "I bet LaFlaga as well", the blond ace pilot nodded in agreement. However that was a lie, Alex was very familiar with the specs of the Archangel but for the sake of his objectives he needed to keep quiet about it.

"Then Lieutenant Ramius you are in charge until you are dead or we reach safe waters" Alex declares, seeing Ramius hesitation he pursues his lips "That's an order by the way"

The female officer gives him a slight glare before nodding. She then turn to a fellow crewman "Take these children to the dormitories so that they can rest" she says.

Kira and his friends nod gratefully and follow the crewman. Alex watches them leaving the hangar, his eyes fixated on the back of the young Coordinator.

…..

**Vesalius**

On the bridge of the Nazca class Destroyer, Rau along with Ades the Captain of the Vesalius, Athrun and Miguel were watching the footage Miguel's GINN which he had taken before his escape.

"I am glad you brought back this footage Miguel" Rau says "Had you not I would've become the laughing stock of ZAFT."

That was the understatement of the year; the crew of the Vesalius had been shocked when they saw their Commander's CGUE enter the hangar. While having a damaged mobile suit was not uncommon, Rau LeCreuset had built a reputation for never sustaining damage in battle not even a glancing blow. Thus seeing the CGUE missing an arm and a head was enough to make the rest of the crew weary of what the Alliance had cooked up to cause one of ZAFT top ace to turn tail.

"Intel never told us there was another mobile suit" Ades mutters, awed and slightly scared of the black mobile suit.

"Judging by its movements we can safely says that the Alliance has finally developed a Natural OS" Rau declares as he watches the footage of the black and yellow mobile suit. Not that he ignored the Strike, but the ZAFT Commander knew who amongst the two machines is most dangerous, considering how close he came to death's door. However in his mind the true threat was the young man behind the controls.

"_Somehow he knows me but I don't remember ever meeting someone so young"_ the ace thought, he then recalled the psychic jolt he had felt when entering Heliopolis. While he had dismissed it earlier, Rau somehow remembered feeling the same sensation many months ago during the lunar battle of Endymion. _"Maybe he is a survivor of the Zero Corp, Mu wasn't the only one, only the most publicized"_

"This mobile suit has been built for close combat and its pilot is no slouch either" Miguel grunts, still feeling sore after his defeat and the demise of his comrade.

Athrun meanwhile was silent, he hadn't seen the black mobile suit and most of his focus had been on the Strike. He wasn't sure but after seeing his best friend inside the hangar now this footage, Athrun was certain that the Earth forces fifth prototype was being piloted by Kira Yamato. How else could the mobile suit suddenly move and fight so well when moments before it was stumbling like a drunk?

"There is also that legged ship we need to worry as well" add Rau as he press a button displaying his CGUE's camera footage showing the white warship emerging from the secret dock. The level of firepower displayed by that vessel alone was frightening and Rau was ready to bet his arm that it wasn't even at half power. "We can't afford to let a ship like that and its mobile suits reach Alliance territory."

"Miguel" Ades spoke "Use of D-Weaponry as has been authorized. You will deploy using a spare GINN along with the rest of the squad onboard; the Gamow will also send Matthew and Olor to support you. The Carthage will stay at the back and provide additional support if necessary."

"Yes sir" Miguel grins like a predator, he would make these two mobile suits pay for his failure and the loss of Jake.

"For the pride of ZAFT you mustn't fail" Rau tells him and salutes

"For ZAFT"

The pilot salute and leaves, Athrun however stays wanting to speak to his commander

"Commander" he starts "Permission to take the Aegis on the next sortie"

Rau and Ades are surprised "Why?" asks the mask man wondering why the young man wanted to go back to battle after such an intense fight.

"That black mobile suit is designed for close combat and Phase Shift armor can only be pierced by beam weapons." Athrun explains "The Aegis is a command unit and unlike the others it is also designed to take out PS based mobile suit with its arsenal of close range beam weapons. It is also clear that the pilot of that machine is very skilled and according to the database we found, the Strike has the ability to switch equipment for a variety of missions. Having the Aegis on the field will minimize casualties on our side, not to mention the firepower it can provide in mobile armor form."

It was a good and reasonable explanation, of course Athrun hadn't told them the real reason, and he wasn't that dumb. Rau thought about his subordinate proposal before slowly nodding. Honestly he hadn't thought of using the Aegis but Athrun reasoning made sense, although the mask commander suspected that the boy had ulterior motives he would indulge him for now.

"Permission granted"

"But Commander" Ades started to protest but Rau cut him off "We have already finished the data extraction on his machine; beside wouldn't you want to see how good they fare against each other."

Athrun smiled and saluted his superior "Thank you Commander", he left the bridge and took the elevator toward the hangar.

"_I need to make sure if Kira is the one piloting that mobile suit"_ the young red coat thought _"If it is him then I will either need to convince him to come with me or capture him."_ Despite his resolution, Athrun inner thoughts also questioned what would he do if Kira was determined to fight him, but he pushed that thought away. Kira was his best friend and he would never want to harm a fly. In his mind, Athrun thought that Kira was being coerced to fight for the Alliance. Only the future would confirm his thoughts.

….

"The colony has declared a level 9 hazard emergency" Murrue explains to Alex and Mu as they made their way to the living quarters, intent on convincing Kira to help them.

"So we can't take them to a shelter" Alex sighs, understanding the situation had gotten worse. He had wanted to leave the students since the Archangel would be soon a target but now it wasn't possible.

Alex and Mu had concocted an escape plan but for it to succeed they needed the Strike, hence Kira's help. Alex knew that if they couldn't convince him, their chances would be extremely slim, especially if ZAFT decided to use heavy weaponry, something the EA personnel on the ship hadn't considered until he voiced it.

"How did the salvage go?" Alex asks, he had proposed that while the ship was getting ready that the rest of crew scavenge the rest of the facility for survivors and supplies. That was ten minutes ago and the crew had recovered a full platoon of Marines who had survived the initial attack, several armored vehicles, including an experimental mobile armor of some kind.

"Aside from the vehicles and that mobile armor, we also found several spare parts for the Strike and the other G-Units" Ramius told him as she examined a datapad which contained the list of what they gathered. While she was now the acting captain, she had placed Alex and Mu as the defacto chief of operations. Both men surprisingly decided to share their duties and had proven to be a formidable team, especially Alex who had rapidly organized the crew and Mu who had ensured (despite his unfamiliarity with the Archangel) that the ship would be combat ready.

"We also found another Strike pack but it is damaged. However Chief Murdoch says with enough time we might be able to repair it but later." she says

Alex nodded before putting hand on his left ear which held a communication headset "This is Delta team" spoke Marine Sergeant Albert Cassin over the radio, he was head of the surviving Marine group assigned to the Archangel "We finished installing the remote sensors. Phase 2 is already in progress, ETA to completion, 12 minutes. Over"

Alex didn't bother answering; instead he clicked two times confirming he had acknowledged the transmition. He then switched to another frequency "Alex to bridge, remote sensors are online, keep an eye on that screen and send a feed to my mobile suit I will be launching soon."

"Acknowledged" Natarle voice rang over the radio "We confirm the presence of one Nazca class Destroyer and two Laurasia class frigates."

"Thank you" Alex then cut the transmition before turning to the other two officers next to him "Looks like they brought another Laurasia, probably a backup." he tell them causing Mu to wince and Murrue to frown in worry.

"Will that affect the plan?" she asks but Mu shook his head "Rau is not the kind of guy to throw all of his eggs in one basket. He will probably send a small group to force us out, while the rest stay outside to finish us off."

"Probably" Alex says in agreement, he would do the same if he felt particularly ruthless and callous about collateral damage.

"Either way we just need to hold them off long enough to make our get away." he says

The trio reached the door to the students quarters

"How are we going to do this?" Mu asks not feeling confident, he could handle fighting mobile suits even onboard a tin can from WW2 but convincing a kid to go to battle, it takes a special kind of heartless bastard to do it. Luckily or unfortunately depending on whose point of view, Alex volunteered.

"Let me handle this" says the red hair mercenary.

…..

Kira, Tolle, Mirillia, Kuzzey and Sai where all gathered in one of the cabins comprising the crew quarters of the Archangel. To say their state of mind was stressful was an understatement, particularly for Kira who felt sorry he hid his Coordinator origins to his friends.

"Don't worry about it Kira" Tolle spoke "We don't care if you are a Coordinator, you are our friend"

Mirillia his girlfriend smiled in approval and nodded "He's right, your genes don't matter"

Sai gave a similar expression while Kuzzey nodded but said nothing.

"Well you don't see that everyday" spoke a familiar voice, the students turned around and saw Alex Klein standing at the entrance to the room; he was now dress in a pilot suit of the same color as the Arbalest. "Naturals accepting Coordinators, makes me hope for the future."

"What do you want?" Tolle asks forcefully, he and Sai stood up protectively in front of Kira. While they were grateful the man saved their lives earlier they were still angry that Alex had lied to them all this time, not to mention that Orb and Morganroete had been building weapons for the Earth Alliance, breaking the peace of their home. Mercenary or not, Alex was part of the problem that had shattered their livelihood.

"I need to talk to Kira" Alex says unfazed by the hostile looks the students were giving him.

"I know what you want" Kira says flatly "I refuse, I don't want to pilot the Strike, find someone else!"

Alex said nothing; instead he stared at the Coordinator, his green eyes showing no emotion. Kira and the others felt intimidated by his gaze but they stood their ground.

Finally after a minute Alex sighs "There is an old saying from the A.D era" he says "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Kira made a slight grimace as he understood immediately the meaning behind those words "Your friends are in danger Kira, very soon ZAFT is going to come back and when they find out this ship is still intact they are going to do everything in their power to bring it down, even if it means destroying this colony."

Alex paused realizing his words were having the desired effect. He hated to force a kid into fighting but they had no choice. Kira was victim of his own success when he rewrote the OS.

"_Besides"_ he thought _"It wouldn't be the first time I am doing something like that, what is one more?"_

"Orb may have broken its vow of neutrality by allowing Morganroete to develop in here these mobile suits for the Alliance but is that reason enough for you to sit here and do nothing while people are going to die?"

"That is not fair!" Mirillia yells in protest "Kira is not a soldier, you just want him to pilot the Strike because he is a Coordinator"

"Yeah" Tolle says before turning to his friend "He's just trying to get inside your head Kira don't listen"

"You are right, I want him to pilot the Strike" Alex says calmly not fazed by their display "Had he not done so and rewrote the OS, all of you here would've been dead" he spoke those last words with more force, causing the kids to shudder "I don't care if you are a Coordinator Kira Yamato but is it really alright for you to sit here and do nothing?!"

"I…I...I don't want to fight…this war has nothing to do with us" protests the boy but Alex could see he was cracking, "No one likes to fight Kira and I know you are scared but if you don't help us our chances of getting out of here alive are going to be very slim. Either way it is your choice." Alex says before turning back toward the door, just as he leaves he glances back to the Coordinator "Speaking of getting involved Kira" he says "I hate to tell you this but you were already involved in this war long before ZAFT attacked."

"What?" Kira and the others faces were shocked by his statement, including Mu and Ramius who were outside and listening to the conversation.

"Professor Kato was the lead developer for the G-Units Operating System, a system you helped develop, Kira" Alex added.

Kira got up his eyes filled with anger "That's impossible! The OS was for a Heavy Labor Unit."

"Really, how else were you able to rewrite the Strike's entire OS, Kira?" Alex asks "The Exo-Frame you were working on was design to replicate human movements, why would it be needed for a heavy labor unit. Don't you find it strange that those same base algorithms were inside the Strike?"

Kira fell on the bed shocked, could Alex be telling the truth "So you use me?" Kira asks, saddened that the man he considered a friend had seen him as a tool.

"No I didn't" Alex replied "In fact I tried to sabotage your work as much as possible" Kira looked at him in surprise "How else do you explain why Kato gave you so much work and why you kept on losing so much data? That's because of me; I didn't want Kato to exploit you so I did it in order to make him think you weren't worth it. Unfortunately you were too good and your baseline work was enough for Kato to keep pushing his work onto you."

"You may think this situation is unfair for you and your friends" Alex went on again "However in the end you are in charge of your own destiny. You can choose to stay here and do nothing while the apocalypse comes over, or you can stand up and fight fate. I choose to fight fate."

The red hair Natural left the room and closed the door.

Outside Mu LaFlaga and Murrue Ramius stood next to the entrance waiting.

"Was it necessary to tell him about his past involvement?" Ramius asks, having heard the conversation she now understood how the boy had been able rewrite the OS of the Strike so easily. She knew Professor Kato, a Natural computer programmer, the man had often stroked her as incompetent, now she knew why 'He was using Kira all along' she thought angrily but her anger was a bit directed at Alex, she felt he was using psychological warfare to break the kid's mental.

"Kira is too naïve for his own good and an idealist." Alex explains "Trust me I have known him long enough to conclude that he is the kind of person who leaves in a bubble and tries to adjust it in order to escape the grim facts of reality. It is for the best that he learns the truth and accepts the situation for what it is."

"Wouldn't it have been better to stick with the 'protect my friend' sales speech?'" Mu asks, although he understood Alex's reasoning he felt he had pushed a bit too far with the revelation that Kira had been an unknown participant of the G-Project.

"He will fight for his friends that is already a given" Alex answers "but so long as he stays naïve he won't be able to fight to his maximum potential and it will make him hesitate and we both know what hesitation can do in battle."

"You make it seems as if he is some kind of pilot prodigy" Ramius says feeling suspicious; it was as if Alex knew something about the boy.

"I could tell the way he moved when he fought that GINN" Alex smiles "He has good instincts, something that is rare for rookie pilots. The way he pilots the Strike is like an extension of his own body."

"Kind of like you" Mu remarks "When you fought LeCreuset, it was like you were flowing with the wind. I got to ask, where did you learn how to pilot like that?"

Alex smiled as his eyes took a nostalgic look "Legacy of a misspent youth." he then chuckles and walks away.

Both Murrue and Mu looked at each other and silently agreed that the red hair would not say anything more.

….

**Ten minutes later**

Four GINNS armed with heavy weapons: two with Recoilless rifles, one with heavy missiles and one with a Barrus Ion Canon launches from the Vesalius, followed behind by the Aegis.

From the Laurasia frigate, the Gamow, two GINNS are launched, both of them armed with missiles as well. The Gamow moves back away from Heliopolis, while the second Laurasia, the Carthage comes closer and deploys its GINNS who are armed with a mix of rifles, missiles and Ion canons.

Miguel and his squad proceed once again inside Heliopolis via the spaceport, while the Carthage mobile suit team stays at the entrance.

…

As the ZAFT mobile suits enter the colony, they are unaware that their arrival has been detected by several remote control sensors consisting of lasers, thermal sights and high optic cameras.

…..

"Remote sensors have detected seven mobile suits" spoke the sensor officer of the Archangel "Six of them are GINNs, the other one is the GAT X 300 Aegis."

The bridge crew was shocked; ZAFT was already fielding the stolen weapons. Regaining her calm Murrue pressed a button on her captain's chair.

"Did you catch all of that Lieutenant LaFlaga?" Murrue asks him.

Currently Mu LaFlaga was trying to make heads or tail of the mobile armor they had recovered. To the surprise of the crew except for Alex, the MAS-TX011 Esperanza was not just a mobile armor but a transformable mobile suit. Alex had explained earlier before he launched, that the experimental vehicle was a project commissioned by the Orb Marine Corp. In its mobile armor mode the Esperanza was a hover tank armed with two beam canons, a machine gun and two railguns. The mobile suit mode was equally dangerous but due to complications with the transformation system there had been several fatalities, thus the project would soon be scrapped. It was an act of desperation to want to pilot this machine but Mu had no choice if they wanted to survive the next minutes since his Zero was out of commission. Besides the Esperanza was locked in its mobile armor form so the risks were minimal. The only problem was that he would not be able to use the railguns due to calibration problems and it would not work in deep space since it was a low atmospheric machine, but so long as he stayed inside the colony interior he wouldn't have a problem.

"I heard you" Mu says as begins the start up sequence "Anything else?"

"Yes, the GINNS are armed with heavy weaponry, just like Klein thought" Murrue tells him

"Damn it" curses Mu "That bastard LeCreuset really intends to destroy this colony. Alright I am launching and will head to point D 2."

"Roger" agrees Murrue "We will begin launch in sixty seconds, Strike will launch just after you once we finish prepping the Sword Pack. Good luck!"

"Thank you" Mu says as he fixes his helmet and closes the cockpit hatch. The Esperanza is moved to the starboard catapult.

"APU connected" speaks Natarle over the radio "Esperanza you are clear to launch"

"Roger. Mu LaFlaga, Esperanza is launching!"

The mobile armor is catapulted from the ship and soars across the artificial environment of Heliopolis.

…..

Meanwhile inside the spaceport, the Arbalest stood hidden by a pitch black cloak on one of the many docking platforms comprising the inner part of the spaceport. The cloak or thermal cloak was created by Morganroete to hide ships and vehicles from thermal scanners and passive radars. While it had never been created for mobile suit in mind, it was large enough to cover the Arbalest. Besides with ZAFT spreading Neutron Jammer all around, their own radars would be blinded, increasing its stealth.

Detecting the approaching mobile suit, Alex began to get himself ready, he opened a secure channel.

"Delta team this is Arbalest, sitrep." he says

"Arbalest this is Delta team, Phase-2 is complete, we are pulling out, over" says the Marine Sergeant

"Better move it then, Zs are approaching my position and fast."

He turned off the radio and began a quick check list of his weapons, old and new. The GX container had been brought to the Archangel and Alex hadn't wasted any time to outfit the Arbalest with some new toys.

"_These are going to be useful, especially against the Aegis" _he thought as he contemplated the new weapon systems he had installed.

A small series of low beep informed him that the targets where now in range, activating the targeting scanners, Alex selected his first weapon, an evil grin drawing on his face.

"Time to introduce ZAFT to the joys of guerilla warfare." he says with slight mad cackle

….

The ZAFT mobile suits proceeded deeper inside the spaceport knowing that at the other end of the facility they would reach the access hatches leading inside the colony's interior. Unknown to them, the group had tripped several laser wires and motion sensors. Unlike the others design to detect intruders, these ones were setup for a much sinister purpose.

Attached at various structural points of this facility are several containers carrying some very powerful explosives; upon being cut from the laser feed of the motion sensors, the timer on these containers started a countdown, a very short countdown.

As if hell itself had been unleashed, a chain of explosions ripped apart the entire facility, sending debris in every direction. The ZAFT mobile suit team being at the heart of the explosion was not sparred by the chaos.

One GINN found its left arm jammed by micro debris lodging themselves inside the joints; another GINN was crushed when it was slammed by the prow of a derelict freighter that had been destroyed in the initial attack.

Reacting quickly Athrun transformed the Aegis into mobile armor mode and fired the Scylla 80mm energy canon, cutting a path for the team to escape. However many of the mobile suits showed signs of damage, one of them had lost an arm and half of its missiles. Another had its recoilless rifle damage and etc. Only Miguel, Matthew and Olor seem fresh for combat.

"This is a goddamn trap" Miguel roars in anger "Everyone keep your eyes peeled, the enemy is here!"

The team was about to resume their march when a flash of green light appeared from one of the docking platform, piercing a GINN's cockpit. The mobile suit exploded violently amidst the horrified stares of his comrades.

"It's a Sniper!" Mathew yelled, the other pilots scattered but Mathew was too late as a second beam pierced his cockpit, vaporized his flesh, ignited the fuel cells of the engines and destroyed his GINN.

"Damn it, Mathew!" Olor cried in anger, clouded by grief and hatred he aimed his missiles at where the beam came from and fired two of them. The missiles flew rapidly and blew the docking platform.

As the smoke dissipates, the broken parts of a large rifle similar to the one wielded by the Aegis could be seen.

"I got him!" Olor cheers, glad to have avenged his friend

"Olor look behind you!" Athrun shouts in warning. The ZAFT Green coat turns his machine around only to have his cockpit pierced by sharp glowing pink stiletto, killing him instantly.

Hot anger coursed through Athrun's veins upon the sight of his dead comrade, he turned the Aegis toward the direction of the attack, and he spotted a figure moving among the shadows and fired.

Alex cursed as the Aegis beam rifle hit part of his thermal cloak catching it on fire; he removes the cloak revealing the Arbalest in its full glory. On its back left shoulder is an anti-ship beam sword, the same as the one on the Sword Striker Pack, on the back of its right hand is a triangular flat object with a hole in a middle. Attach to its right leg is thump shape shotgun.

"It's him!" Miguel shouts, recognizing the mobile suit, he aims the Barrus Ion canon at the Arbalest and fires, but Alex already moves away causing him to miss. The Arbalest raises the triangular device fix on the back of its right hand which fires several needles, the same that killed Olor.

Miguel evades but two GINNs are hit by the piercing weapons, one in the cockpit and the other on the upper chest. The latter suddenly convulses as electricity courses across the mobile suit, causing the suit to explode. Athrun, Miguel and the one remaining GINN fires at the Arbalest but Alex expertly evades their attack, using the surrounding as cover.

"We can't win like this!" Miguel declares, his GINN raises its left hand holding a tube toward the exit of the spaceport and fires a flare.

"Reinforcements are on their way" Miguel says "Athrun you and Derek head inside the colony and take out the other mobile suit."

"I am not leaving you…"

"That's an order!" Miguel yells cutting his protest "If you don't want to do it, do it for our fallen comrades. Now go and show us the spirit of ZAFT!"

Athrun greeted his teeth in frustration and then sighs "Alright but you better stay alive when I come back."

Miguel snorts while smiling "Who do you think you are talking to?"

The Aegis salutes him and flies toward the colony's interior followed by Derek's GINN.

Alex sees them running and tries to intercept them but Miguel ion canon fires, forcing him to dodge.

"Now it is between you and me" Miguel declares as he discards his Ion canon and reaches behind his GINN's back drawing a black shape sword with a glass tube bisecting the blade in the middle; the glass ignites and surrounds the middle and contours of the blade with an orange glow.

"A laser sword" Alex mutters in surprise "So ZAFT has already completed it" he draws the Arbalest anti-ship beam sword and goes into a combat stance, the GINN following suite.

Both machines begin circling around each other for a few seconds before rushing at one another, their blades meet, beginning a battle of endurance.

…..

"Lieutenant, Kira. The Aegis and one GINN are heading your way" Natarle spoke over the radio

Currently the Esperanza and the Strike were positioned outside the entrance to the spaceport inside the colony's interior.

The mobile armor was hidden in between a building and several trees, camouflaging its black and blue color scheme. The Strike on the other end was completely visible as it stood on top of an abandoned building, unlike the previous battle; the mobile suit was now outfitted with the Sword Pack.

"Roger that ensign" Mu replied over the radio before switching to the Strike's frequency "Alright Kira, I will deal with the GINN and your keep the Aegis busy until the signal is given, okay?"

"Roger" Kira answered but Mu could tell that the boy was nervous and afraid, no surprise there it is his first battle and the Aegis specs were on par with the Strike.

"It is going to be alright kid" Mu comforts him "Just focus on evading its attack and you'll be fine."

Kira relaxed a bit and nodded, the fear was still here but Mu could see the fire in his eyes. It made the ace pilot feel proud that the boy was determine but he couldn't help but feel sad to have such a young man fighting at his side.

"_Why is it that we have to sacrifice their innocence?"_ the Hawk of Endymion thought "I really hate this war" he muttered.

…..

The Aegis and its ally entered the colony's interior; automatically Athrun's sensors detected the Strike's IFF, but no sign of the legged ship.

"Go look for the enemy ship" Athrun told Derek "I will take care of the Strike"

"Very well, good luck" Derek said as he broke formation and headed toward the Morganroete docks

Twin green energy beams flew from the ground and nearly hit the GINN, causing Derek to halt his flight and fire back with his Recoilless rifle at the direction of the attack.

Mu lifted off the Esperanza from its hideout, evading the shot and fired back again, this time with the 40mm machine guns and missiles. The GINN descended onto the ground causing the shots to miss. Derek switched from his Recoilless Canon to Assault Rifle and fired at the mobile armor. However the Esperanza was too fast for him to accurately target and Mu made sure to use the buildings and trees as cover.

Athrun had been shocked to see a new type of mobile armor however his attention was brought back to the Strike as it initiated the first move by firing its Midas Beam Boomerang; Athrun deflected it with his shield and then opened fire with his beam rifle, aiming for non fatal blow.

Kira dodged the beam and fired the rocket anchor, which grabbed the Aegis rifle and crushed it. A cursing Athrun discarded the broken weapon and activated the wrist mounted beam saber before descending toward the strike, but he was forced to halt his charge as he barely noticed the Midas Beam Boomerang he had deflected earlier returning toward him because he stood between it and the Strike. Athrun leapt back into the air, avoiding the thrown weapon which the Strike caught back and placed it back on its shoulder before also taking off into the sky, anti-ship beam sword drawn.

The two Gundams crossed blade, sparks of lightning igniting in the middle as both pilots tried to overtake the other.

Athrun decided to break the stalemate by activating the Aegis toe beam sabers and threw a kick which nearly sliced the Strike right arm where it not for Kira spotting the attack in time and backing away.

Kira took a big gulp of air as he had not noticed he held his breath since the fight began. While he was still running on adrenaline, the young Coordinator felt the muscles in his arms ache in pain, but Kira wouldn't give up. His friends and Heliopolis were counting on him, he would not give up.

"Kira is that you" A familiar voice spoke over the open channel "This is Athrun Zala, please respond"

Kira eyes widen in shock upon hearing his childhood friend. He still remembers spotting him inside the hangar earlier but he hadn't been fully sure, thinking it had been a bad dream.

"Athrun, Athrun Zala" Kira says feeling downcast as his worst fears have been realized.

The son of the Defense Chairman of the PLANTS sighs, is it relief or regret he doesn't know "So it really is you Kira. Why are you fighting alongside the Earth Alliance?"

Kira wants to say something but the shock of seeing his friend on a battlefield, the revelation of his participation in the G-Project, the fate of his friends. All of this finally takes a toll on his mental state and the boy feels overwhelmed. However the adrenaline coursing through his body causes him to lash out as he slashes Athrun with the anti-ship beam sword but the Aegis steps away, avoiding the blow.

"Why are you here Athrun? Why are you attacking this colony?" cries Kira, tears threatening to overwhelm him "I can't let you hurt my friends so please go away!" To emphasize his point he fires the CIWS.

Athrun is shocked by his friend's action and comments "The Earth Alliance wants to destroy us Kira, they hate Coordinators we didn't have a choice." He takes the Aegis into evasive maneuvers, dodging the bullets, although they can't really hurt his mobile suit, it will drain the battery or might rattle his cockpit. He could attack and easily take down the Strike but Athrun is not willing to hurt his friend.

"Stop it Kira, calm down!" Athrun yells pleadingly but his friend doesn't listen and launches the Boomerang once more.

….

Derek fires his GINN missiles mounted on the legs, but the Esperanza breaks away and the missiles slams onto several buildings and concretes. The smoke of the explosions reduces the ZAFT pilot's visibility. Taking advantage of the situation Mu circles around and fires the beam canons impacting the GINN's torso and blowing it up like a hydrogen balloon.

"This is the Archangel" Murrue spoke over the radio "Phase-3, I repeat Phase-3"

"It's about time" Mu sighs, he then searches for Kira and sees the Strike and the Aegis dueling; Mu orients the Esperanza towards them and accelerates. "Kira on my mark break away!"

"Roger"

Mu sticks his mobile armor as low to the ground as possible. The targeting reticule on his HUD turns from green to red signifying that he has a solid lock.

"Break!"

The Esperanza missiles and beam canons depart just as the Strike backs away from its opponent. Athrun is caught off guard by the sudden maneuver that he can only raise his shield as the energy lances slams on it forcing his mobile suit away. Then comes the missiles that impact with great violence but the Phase Shift holds, although Athrun is tossed left and right due to the shockwave of the explosions rattling the inside of his cockpit.

"Let's get out of here kid!" Mu orders as the Esperanza and the Strike leave the haggard Aegis and head to the spaceport.

Athrun scowls furiously as he watches his friend run away, he then check his suit power level and notice he has only 30% power left.

"I'll have to make it count" mutters the young Red Coat as he moves the Aegis to follow his opponents.

…..

All the GINNs from the Carthage mobile suit team dive inside the spaceport toward where the Arbalest and Miguel GINN are ducking out. The black and yellow mobile suit sports a few scorch marks on its shoulder and left arm shield while the GINN has already lost one arm, the right shoulder thruster and the head piece horn.

Alex smiles in excitement, while he may be piloting a superior machine, the ZAFT pilot he is facing is clearly skilled for having been able to scratch him like that despite the damage on his GINN.

Alarms in his cockpit warns Alex that the enemy reinforcements have arrived, he kicks Miguel's GINN and fires a Stiletto impaling its remaining arm, disabling it.

The remaining GINNs open fire with their rifles, bazookas and Ion canons, but the Arbalest zigzag across the rain of fire effortlessly as it rushes toward them. Alex slashes the nearest GINN with his sword, bisecting its torso in a diagonal slash destroying it, he then turns to the left, fires the CIWS crippling the mono eye of another GINN causing the pilot to fire accidentally his Ion canon and kills a nearby teammate. Two GINNs draw their swords and rush at him from both sides while a third one prepares to lend support with its bazooka. Alex throws the beam sword at the GINN bazooka, impaling the cockpit as the other two closes in on him. He throws a kick at the closest one, just before the kick connects; a beam materializes on the toe of the Arbalest and bisects the GINN's waist. The Arbalest rolls on itself now facing the direction of the other as its leg descends it cuts the GINN's arm wielding sword. Alex draws a beam saber from the back waist and slashes the mobile suit from head to toe.

The three remaining GINN all armed with Barrus Ion canons (including the headless one) fires at the Arbalest with the intent of avenging their comrades. At the same time the Arbalest hands reaches the handles on its shoulders and fires two Pallas Beam Boomerangs. The thrown weapons glow pink and deflect the incoming beams but the kinetic force of the beams causes the boomerangs to be blown to the side. The micro computers and thrusters of the Pallas make them return to the shoulders of the Arbalest who has drawn the shotgun that was stored on its right leg; the thump shape weapon opens up, lightning cracking inside its barrel. Alex presses the trigger, causing a white flash to erupt from the shotgun, hundreds of pellets incased in plasma energy races toward the GINNs melting their hulls before exploding deep inside the mobile suits.

Miguel watches horrified and powerless as the entire mobile suit team of the Carthage has been annihilated by that black mobile suit.

The Arbalest turns to face him, its green eyes flashing ominously before it rockets away toward the deepest part of the spaceport, leaving him alone among his fallen comrades. Miguel's GINN still having power detects a massive heat signature coming from the direction where the Arbalest is heading. Realization dawning on him he alerts the Vesalius.

"Miguel to Vesalius, the legged ship is inside the spaceport!" he yells over the radio

"Vesalius here" Rau spoke "What's your status?"

"My entire team has been wiped out…including the Carthage team" Miguel answers sadness in his voice "Athrun is still inside the colony but I don't know his status"

A long pause filtered across the channel before Rau responded "Head back to the ship, the Carthage and Vesalius will initiate a bombardment as soon as we are in range."

"Roger that" Miguel said before closing the connection. While his GINN was no longer combat capable he would still be able to make it back. He gave one last glance to those who were once his comrades and muttered a quick prayer.

"Rest in peace my friends for I will make this bastard pay for what he did?" Miguel says aloud to his fallen friends, a fire lit in his eyes. Indeed he would make that pilot pay for letting him live.

Just as he was about to leave, the ZAFT pilot spotted the Aegis approaching his position

"Athrun" Miguel calls "Where is Derek?"

Athrun eyes were wide in shock as he spotted the fallen mobile suit wrecks of his allies

"Wha…what happened here?" he asks

"That black mobile suit" Miguel answers "He took us all out like cattle"

Athrun heart sank, he might not have been closed to those pilots but he valued them as comrades dedicated to the same cause. To think that one pilot was able to do this was unthinkable.

"_What kind of mobile suit did the Alliance build?" _he wondered mentally

"Where is Derek, Athrun?" Miguel asks once more, although seeing the Aegis alone, the ZAFT pilot was dreading the answer

"He's gone" Athrun says "Some kind of mobile armor with beam weapons took him out. I chased after it and the Strike but I lost them." It was true, as soon as he made it inside the spaceport Athrun was caught off guard by explosive mines and ECM, thus he had no choice but to regroup here with Miguel.

Miguel refrained from cursing, once again another comrade at fallen but they will mourn later "I am detecting a heat signature inside the spaceport that is moving toward the exit" he says "It is probably their ship."

"I'll go check it out"

"No" Miguel cuts him "Commander LeCreuset has ordered a bombardment as soon as the Vesalius is in range."

Athrun was shocked, if the Vesalius fired its beam weapons at the spaceport, the colony might not survive the damage.

"But…"

"No time Athrun, your suit is too valuable for ZAFT war effort, we have to go!" the blond hair pilot orders mistaking Athrun's hesitation for patriotism.

Athrun reluctantly obeys and transforms the Aegis into its mobile armor form before grabbing Miguel's GINN in its claws. "Hold on" says the Red Coat and the two fly away.

….

"Nazca class destroyer and one Laurasia class frigates detected" spoke the officer manning the sensors of the Archangel "distance 40"

Murrue eyes narrowed as she watches the main screen displaying the two ZAFT warships standing guard in front of the spaceport's entrance approaching closer to the colony. The second Laurasia was standing far out back.

"Energy buildup detected on both ships" the officer on sensor watch reported "Looks like they are about to fire on the spaceport!"

"What's the status of the Strike, Esperanza and Arbalest?" Murrue asks slight worry in her voice, the firepower of these ships was no joke.

"They've reached the tertiary shaft number 17, ETA to exit 5 minutes" reports the communication officer

"We are in range Lieutenant" Natarle who is in the CIC informs the acting female Captain

"Charge the Lohengrin" Murrue orders "Target enemy ships with Valiants, load tubes 1 through 5 with Sledgehammers; fire on my mark."

She could've ordered the Gottfried to be ready as well but due to charging the Lohengrin it would take more time to ready the beam canons; however they could still fire it at low power if necessary.

"_If this plan works we won't need to fire another salvo and that second Laurasia is too far to be able to hit us."_ the female EA officer thought as she ran the plan over her head once more. To be more accurate Alex had drawn the plan using his photographic map of Heliopolis. Murrue had to admit that despite his age, Alex was quite the strategist, easily on par with men like Admiral Lewis Halberton or ZAFT infamous commander Andrew Waltfield, the Desert Tiger.

"_ZAFT think they have us on the rope but they are dead wrong"_ for a brief second Murrue's face morphed into an evil grin as she anticipated the reckoning they were about to inflict to LeCreuset and his forces.

"All weapons ready" Natarle confirmed from her console in the CIC, her face harboring the same expression her superior displayed earlier.

"_This is for all the people you killed"_ the female ensign said mentally

"Lohengrin 1 and 2, fire!"

From behind and slightly above the ZAFT warships with the sun at its back, the Earth Alliance Assault Carrier Archangel opened its forward weapon nacelles, a few seconds later twin ruby lances of positronic energy flew from the warship heading straight toward their targets who seemed unaware of the approaching danger.

….

**With the fallout of the Heliopolis raid, politics and intrigues continue with even great fervor. Amidst the cold darkness of space Artemis shines like a star of hope. However before they can reach the fortress and its umbrella, the Archangel and its crew must display more cunning and wits to escape the claws of ZAFT who is determined to destroy them. **

**Next time on Gundam Seed: The Raven: Road to Artemis; show them the path of freedom Arbalest!**

Unit: MAS-TX011 Esperanza

Unit type: Experimental Transformable Amphibious Mobile Armor

Manufacturer: Morgenroete

Operator(s):Orb Marine Corp

Accommodation: Two Pilots (one driver and one gunner), in standard cockpit in torso but can still be controlled by a single pilot, cockpit mounted in the torso.

Power plant: Ultra-compact Fusion Battery, power output rating unknown

Dimensions:Height: 16.4 Meters; Weight: 47.7 Tons

Equipment and design features: Can transform into a high speed low altitude gunship; can operate underwater (only in MA mode); uses a modified scale engine for underwater operations. Sonar, range unknown; Sensors range unknown.

Fixed Armaments:

2 x beam canons; 2 x railguns; 2 x 6 tubes missile pods; 2 x beam blades; 1 x machine gun four and torpedo launchers.

Optional Fixed Armaments: none

Optional Armaments: none

Colours: Black and blue

Technical & Historical Notes: The Orb Marine Corp originally commissioned Morganroete to develop a mobile armor that could intercept enemy targets on the sea and ground. However during the development phase, Morganroete engineers proposed to combine aspect of a mobile suit into the mobile armor in order to confer it some added versatility. Unfortunately the transformation system while successful caused many fatalities amongst the test pilots causing the Company to scrap the project. It wasn't until the Esperanza was recovered by the Archangel during the Heliopolis raid that the flaws were corrected.

The Esperanza can transform into a low altitude flying tank armed with beam weapons, railguns, missiles and torpedoes. Its large arsenal, speed and agility makes the Esperanza makes it the perfect interceptor against ground, air and sea threats, not mentioning its ability to go underwater. In mobile suit mode, the Esperanza cannot hover and its agility is decreased greatly, but it is a very potent threat with its arm mounted beam blades. However it cannot use the beam canons and missiles in mobile suit mode, but the Railguns and torpedoes can still be of use.

**Authors note: **SEED has some very impressive mobile armor designs but they always end up in the scrapper when facing mobile suits so I decided to give them some well deserved recognition. The Esperanza is a nasty opponent to face, from a distance it will fry you with its beam canons, come closer and it will sushi your ass with its beam blades. The Esperanza itself is from another Gundam series, After War Gundam X and bears the same name, except that in the show it doesn't have any transformation features.

**As you can see this chapter marks the first deviation from canon, the story will still follow the basic plot but with several twists. There will also be a lot of dialogue about the political geography of the Cosmic Era which will become important to understand for the next chapters. Now please Reeeevieeew.**


End file.
